Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It has a somber color, but is surprisingly playful.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.

Young dragons are relatively defenseless. They are born with relatively soft scales, which are shed and replaced with harder ones as the hatchling matures. Once a hatchling’s wings grow in, it typically marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own and are usually left alone by their mother.

Lilly Hopper as her name implies, loves to hang out in the marshes hopping from lily pad to lily pad. She often challenges other hatchlings to join her to see how many one can jump on in a row without getting wet. Sometimes these games get more advanced and some lily pads must be hopped over rather than on, or one must go back and forth hopping on an already unstable lily pad. So far, she is the proud record holder of 20 lily pads in a row.